The Card Apprentice

Although Chen Mu had handed off all the battle issues to Bogner, he still brought over one of the most outstanding low-grade card masters from where Bu Qiangdong was. He thought the drafts Bogner had drawn were too messy and wanted the card master to make some fantasy images of the base.

The low-grade card master’s native ability was pretty outstanding, and he had gained quite a bit of knowledge while he was at Heaven’s Wings. He made a remarkably true-to-life image of the base, even including the surrounding environment. It had the lawns, the rivers, and the jungles—it even showed all the undulations of the terrain.

As soon as Bogner saw the three-dimensional representation, he called out his praises and couldn’t let go of it, now being able to directly see the layout. Chen Mu was inwardly impressed as he looked at the three-dimensional image.

* * *

News of the Central Repository of the Classics and the Federation Comprehensive Academy having become enemies had quickly overtaken the battle between the Western Sheng District and the Bai Dong District. It commanded all the headlines.

The Central Repository of the Classics’ power in Pomelo had suffered heavy losses, and Jie Yanbai had been wounded still more. He was broken loose at the risk of his comrades’ lives and was now unaccounted for. A lot of people thought that was the end of the struggle for the Central Island Firm, but no one quite realized it was only the beginning.

Just as Zu Ning was taking Ren Wenzhou and the others out of Pomelo, they encountered reinforcements from the Central Repository of the Classics.

The one leading the forces that time was Mi Xiaqing, who was one of the three beloved disciples of the lord of the Central Repository of the Classics. Compared to Jie Yanbai making his name in a single battle, Mi Xiaqing had made his name while even younger.

He came from wealth and had been taken in as a disciple by the lord of the Central Repository of the Classics when he was 7. He was the most approachable of the lord’s three beloved disciples. Few people at the Central Repository of the Classics really knew what kind of power he had. He had an extremely good record there. Not only did the lord dote on him, but his two fellow disciples loved him dearly.

He had a tight relationship with Jie Yanbai, so he had taken the initiative to volunteer. He was still en route at the time but had received the call before Jie Yanbai had made any moves. Mi Xiaqing had been taken by surprise. The troops he was leading hadn’t even stopped as they traveled to Pomelo in a single breath. They weren’t far from Pomelo at the time, having been in a desperate hurry when they happened upon the troops of the Federation Comprehensive Academy, who were just preparing to sweep away Ren Wenzhou and the others.

How could Mi Xiaqing have known what was happening when he first saw the situation? Thinking Jie Yanbai might have been the victim of treachery, the eyes of the scholars from the Central Repository of the Classics burned red.

There was another fierce battle!

The one defeated that time was the Federation Comprehensive Academy. They hadn’t thought the next battle would come on so quickly after having already gone through one fierce battle. Enraged as they were, Mi Xiaqing revealed terrifying strength. After the big battle, Zu Ning was wounded in defeat.

However, Zu Ning was powerful in the end, and he firmly broke away.

In the blink of an eye, the Federation Comprehensive Academy had experienced the entire procession from heaven to hell. The most dramatic part was then encountering more of their own reinforcements just as Zu Ning was finally breaking free…

What a mess! Pomelo had descended into a stew of chaos. Many people didn’t dare to go outdoors, and those with means rushed off to some other city. Who knew if they would start fighting inside the city?

The influence of that affair outshone the influence of the battle between the Western Sheng District and the Bai Dong District. Those two districts were also backed by the Big Six. On the bright side, however, Desert Camp and Moon Frost Island were still maintaining an image of restraint.

The battle between the Federation Comprehensive Academy and the Central Repository of the Classics was within the Big Six and had been a direct confrontation right from the start, with no buffer at all. It was unknown whether Jie Yanbai was alive or dead. Zu Ning was also seriously injured, and there were numerous deaths among scholars on both sides.

The enmity between the two was going to last!

With almost no hesitation, the two sides responded at the same time with reinforcements! Both Academies were incessantly mobilizing card artisans, who were advancing toward Pomelo and making the situation still more tense.

Chen Mu had been paying attention to the situation all along, naturally hoping the two sides would fight a little more fiercely. Then, maybe they wouldn’t have any strength left to come looking to bother him.

The 150 tactical shuttle card sets were finally finished. The high-grade card masters who had been doing the chore of preparing all the ingredients nearly wept with joy. Once they found out they would return to the familiar power card making place, however, everyone’s face turned green in an instant.

Chen Mu found Ru Qiu. Over those last few days, she had been falling down in worship of Chen Mu’s power. Regardless of the extent to which her counterpart’s power had finally developed, she was certain Chen Mu’s card making system was completely different from the system all the academies were then using.

The current card making system was called the Van Sant System, from the hands of the grand master of his generation, Heiner Van Sant. While the knowledge of card making among the academies differed in some respects, they never diverged from that framework. However, the cards made by Mr. Cao were completely different from the card system of Heiner Van Sant.

Ru Qiu wondered whether the card system of Mr. Cao might be passed down from the period of the sects. As the terminator of the period of the sects, Heiner Van Sant had used his card system to conquer the entire world, and all of the sects exited from the stage of history. Most of them disappeared into the long river of time.

But there was still a small portion that had incredibly been passed down, and Mr. Cao was possibly one among those.

Heiner Van Sant had consolidated the knowledge of the sects across his entire life, which directly caused the demise of many sects. His successors inherited the same habits. It was said that the Star Academy library contained the most complete repository of the technologies of the age of the sects.

Not only were those not to be seen anywhere else, but there were pitifully scant materials even in the other five of the Big Six.

That made her heart pound with excitement; to her, the folding Yanbo card had proven the power of that sect’s technology. No wonder the folding Yanbo card was only a three-star card but could still have such power! It had broken through the star framework of Heiner Van Sant’s system, which could also prove Mr. Cao’s mastery of a different theory from the current theoretical system. Most importantly, it was a system full of vitality!

But what could she do? No matter what she asked, Chen Mu never answered. That made her not know what to do for a while, and she knew her counterpart had no intention of explaining anything to her. Apart from the folding Yanbo card, her counterpart hadn’t promised anything.

Right! Didn’t they still have a folding Yanbo card? Once he explained the folding Yanbo card to her, she would have a certain understanding of the mysterious system.

But she probably hadn’t thought Chen Mu didn’t have the slightest intention of explaining it to her. That was because he had thought up a wonderful way.

“Have you studied the Analysis of Compatibility?” Chen Mu asked when he found Ru Qiu.

Ru Qiu respectfully nodded. “I have.” She found it a little strange, not understanding why Chen Mu was suddenly asking such a thing. The Analysis of Compatibility was a rather obscure discipline that was generally used for card analysis. Certain instruments would analyze the compatibility between the card materials and the cards to explain the required perceptual strength to make the cards.

That was an ancient technique, but up until then, its use and deployment were rather limited. That was because it could cause some irreparable damage to the card.

“Do you really understand the parameters of compatibility?”

“I do, Mr. Cao.”

“Mmmm. I’ll give this to you.” Chen Mu handed Ru Qiu a fantasy card. “The composition of the folding Yanbo card is recorded on it, along with how to wield the pen and the perceptual compatibility parameters for each section. First, practice the drawing method. When you’ve completed that, I’ll tell you the formula for the ink.” Chen Mu then left behind a stunned Ru Qiu.

Ru Qiu didn’t think of putting the card into her apparatus until Chen Mu had left. A three-dimensional image of a blank card popped out in front of her.

A spot suddenly started to appear on the card, and it kept lengthening to form a line. The lines then spread to gradually cover the entire card face to form a composition. Following the final stroke when the pen would be taken up, the surface of the card showed the same composition that was on the surface of the folding Yanbo card in the hands of the president.

The demonstration wasn’t finished, however. The card image grew into the size of a table, and the lines of the composition on it were the width of a palm. The card’s design suddenly started to rise from the surface of the card, as though a mountain range were taking form in front of her eyes. The edges of the lines looked as though they had been cut smoothly by a knife.

Ten seconds later, the design on the card stuck out, though the distance it stuck out was different in each place. Those continuous undulations looked like a road had been built along the top of the mountain range.

Ru Qiu was inherently brilliant and immediately understood that those uplifts were the required compatibility of perception in those places! The uplifts perfectly interpreted the changes in compatibility required for the process of making the card, from which it would be simple to calculate the perceptual strength when placing the pen for each position.

That… that…

Ru Qiu was transfixed. Why hadn’t she realized Chen Mu would actually use such a method to teach her how to make the folding Yanbo card?

She furrowed her brow, seeming to have thought of something. But she still wasn’t quite certain. She immediately activated the apparatus on her wrist.

“Professor Wen? It’s little Qiu.”

Professor Wen immediately stopped what he had been doing and asked genially, “Ah, how are you, little Qiu? Have you run into some problem?”

Hearing that it was Ru Qiu, the other card masters looked at one another and stopped what they had been doing. They had previously been discussing how they wanted to find out from Ru Qiu what card that little guy was making in the end. They hadn’t thought Ru Qiu would actually find them first.

Aside from Professor Wen, the others also knew Ru Qiu had certainly encountered some problem or difficulty.

“Do you remember a special kind of method that was passed along, Professor?” Ru Qiu asked in an agitated voice. “It uses fantasy card images to demonstrate the card making method being passed down!”